On Sunday, former U.S. President Donald Trump made the revelation that a deal to sell TikTok – a Chinese company – to a non-Chinese buyer was nearly finalized, only for it to be derailed by China’s reaction to new reciprocal tariffs… Before China pulled out, Trump said on Air Force One the agreement was close to completion.
As quoted by a news agency, Trump said, “The report is that we had a deal, pretty much for TikTok, not a full deal, but very close, and then China changed the deal because of tariffs. They would approve that deal in 15 minutes if I was willing to give it a little cut in tariffs. That is the way that tariffs work.”
In the U.S., where TikTok has more than 170 million users, the future of the widely used video-sharing app is uncertain, as it is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. Last year, a law was passed requiring the app or TikTok to either be sold to a non-Chinese company or the app will have to be banned completely in the United States because of national security issues.
On April 2, just a day after Trump imposed reciprocal tariffs on up to 60 countries, including a 34% tariff on Chinese goods, he extended TikTok’s deadline to buy the company for an extra 75 days. Before the dispute, he said negotiations had involved other investors and were closing in on an agreement until the talks intervened.
But ByteDance has insisted that there are ‘key matters’ to be resolved. Chinese law is needed before any deal on such a major strategic investment in a foreign company will be signed, the company said, reiterating they had not agreed in principle on a final sale to the Chinese national remainder. TikTok has been embroiled in a geopolitical cold war between the United States and China due to the interplay between trade and tech regulation.
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates
Click Here for Chhattisgarh News
Click Here for Entertainment News